Carriage-top



E. FLEGK.

GARRIAGE TOP.

(No Model.)

atented Aug. 1,1882.

WI TJV' ESSE S %M @Z/M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMANUEL FLEOK, OF LA GRANGE, INDIANA.

CARRIAGE-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,038, dated Application fil'ed May 10, 1882. (No modeL) To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, EMANUEL FLECK, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Grange, in the county of La Grange and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and'usefulImprovements in Carriage-Tops, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to carriage-tops; and

it is designed as an improved method of fastening the carriage-top adjuster covered by Letters Patent No. 248,440, granted to Emanuel Fleck and John Boyd, OctoberlS, 1881. The object of the mechanism shown in said patent is to provide a new and improved attachment for facilitating raising and lowering of a carriage or a buggy top by the person occupyin g the seat of the buggy or carriage. In my improvement I retain the object quoted, and also the principle by which it is accomplished; but I provide a simpler and more desirable manner of attaching the parts to the seat. In Fleck and Boyds patent the top-adj uster is secured to the top of the seat. This arrangement necessitates the disengaging of the bows,'handlever, jointed lever, rear cross-bar, and jointed diagonal folding bars when it becomes necessary to remove the top from the seat.

My improvement consists substantially in attaching the adjuster to the railing around and above the seat, so that when the top is removed all the parts can be taken with it without inconvenience, which can be easily accomplished by simply removing the screws or bolts from the bottom of the vertical standards which unite the railing to the seat, said standards being rigidly connected to the railing,

all of which will be more fully hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

I I accomplish the foregoing objects bythe mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a buggy top, bed, and seat provided with Fleck and Boyds invention and my improvement thereon. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of my improved attachments secured to the railing of a seat. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the two parts which, when united, form one of the clamps that secures a cross-piece to the back rail on the seat. Fig. 4 is a central ver- August 1, 1882.

b ows D E F. H H are the square ends of the rear cross-piece, and to which the lower ends of jointed rods G G are rigidly secured. H is a shoulder on the rear cross-piece. I I are the clamps, each one of which is formed by parts J J. K is the rear cross-piece, secured by clamps I I to railing L. K, K and K are vertical standards uniting the seat to the railing. L is the side railing, to which the handlever clamp M is secured. N and N are the two parts of clamp M. O is a semicircular ring connected to and forming a part of clamp M. P is the hand-lever; P, a spring; P, a rivet; P, a rivet securing lever P to crosspiece P*. P is also a rivet through lever P. Q is an eccentric formed on the lower end of locking-lever R. Sand T are levers jointed at U and P V is the point at which lever T is rigidly secured to cross-piece K. In the small letters, i represent bolts securing the two parts of clamp I, and m m the bolts uniting the two parts of side clamp, M.

In Fig. 1 the hand-lever is thrown forward and the locking-lever R is forced back by the spring P, thus engaging the eccentric Q with the semicircular band or ring 0, and thereby firmly securing the united levers S and T and cross-piece K. The jointed rods G G, being rigidly fixed to the cross-rod K, thus securely brace and hold the bows and top in an erect position. By pressing forward on the lockinglever B its eccentric Q is disengaged from the top surface of the semicircular ring 0. The hand-lever P can then be easily moved back and forward to suit the convenience of the operator. The eccentric will engage the top surback the levers S andT are also thrown back, which causes the rods Kto revolve backward, their joints turned, and each caused to fold. Said jointed rods being connected to the central bows, E, necessarily'causes said bows to turn backward and fold, thereby lowering the top by a simple movement of the hand-lever. It must be apparent that by moving the lever forward the top is again raised.

The device herein shown and described and my improvement thereon can be applied to any form of buggy or carriage top by a slight modification without departing from the principleof my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a carriage-top, the clamp M, consistin g of the parts N and N, and provided with a cross-piece, P and semicircular ring 0, in

combination with the hand-lever 1?, having spring P,'and locking-lever R, provided with eccentric Q, all arranged in the manner and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination of the railing L, clamps I I, consisting of the pieces J J, and the crossrod K, the two parts of each clamp, when united, having double slots passing through from side to side, and into which the railing L and cross-rod K respectively are placed, the two parts of each clamp being secured by bolts it in the manner and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EMANUEL FLEGK. Witnesses: v

J. E. MCCLASKEY, LUCIUS WEDDER. 

